On Tuesday, April 28, nearly 250 K-12 students and 70 University of Colorado Boulder undergraduates, who participate in CU-Boulder’s Public Achievement program during the academic year, will share their recent efforts to raise awareness about 13 public issues during a public project unveiling.
The event, which serves as a culmination to CU’s yearlong Public Achievement program, will be from 4:45-6:30 p.m. in the Mathematics Building, Room 100 (near the intersection of Colorado and Folsom) on CU-Boulder’s campus.
Incorporating multimedia, Public Achievement students, representing Angevine Middle School, Casey Middle School, Centaurus High School, Creekside Elementary School and the I Have a Dream Foundation of Boulder County will have an opportunity to discuss student-identified social issues and review subsequent actions that they took to address these issues.
Issues tackled by students include animal abuse, bullying, food waste, domestic violence, gender inequalities, global education, public art, teen depression and suicide, teen substance abuse and video game violence.
To raise awareness about bullying, for example, Angevine students coordinated a school-wide anti-bullying poster contest. While all entries will ultimately be displayed in Lafayette schools, the winning entry will be converted into a professional print PSA, which will be placed on 20 local RTD buses this summer. Other projects resulted in the creation of informational videos, awareness campaigns and fundraisers, and special events, including “A Night on the Streets”, which Centaurus students are hosting on Friday, April 24 at LaMont Does Park to raise awareness about the prevalence of poverty and generate continued support for a resource center that they established at Centaurus for their peers in need.
“Over the three years that I have been involved in Public Achievement as both a coach and TA I have developed a strong understanding of the power that lives in community outreach and relationship building,” said Jackie Flowers, CU-Boulder senior and Public Achievement teaching assistant. “I continue to be impressed by the quality of students’ projects and their steadfast dedication to civic engagement and service.”
In addition to sharing outcomes from their respective projects, Centaurus students will host a concurrent silent auction during the project unveiling. Generated funding will be shared with the Obama School in Darfur, which serves as Centaurus’ “sister school.”
Housed in CU Engage, CU-Boulder’s center for community-based learning and research, the University of Colorado’s Public Achievement program seeks to promote student retention and access to post-secondary education through civic engagement programing. More than 100 CU Boulder undergraduates and 350 K-12 students participate in the program each year.